Fairfield Township trustees receive another RUMA from Chesapeake

September 21, 2012

FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP - Trustees received another road use maintenance agreement from Chesapeake Exploration for the Margo well site, some six-tenths of a mile on Kelly Park Road from state Route 164 on Thursday.

A driveway permit was included. Eric Bruckman, a project manager for Civil Engineers of Southwest Ohio (CESO) said previous comments and trustee requests were in the RUMA.

Trustees also approved submitting an invoice to Chesapeake for a 40-foot long, 60-inch concrete encased section of culvert that was used in a RUMA on Crestview Road.

The total for that, which Chesapeake agreed to pay half, is $12,032. It also the company $13,596 and $24,219 for all the materials used on Beeson Mill and Miller roads regarding RUMAs.

In other business, Cherry Fork Road resident Tina Mills complained about work at the Centennial Energy Transfer site at the form National Refractories facility.

Mills said she was "extremely disapointed the township didn't alert nearby residents about the dust, traffic and the "enormity" of all the turmoil. She repeatedly called the situation chaotic. She complained about not being "notified by certified" letter regarding the project. In June, Buckeye Transfer, LLC was approved for a conditional use to convert part of the former National Refractories site to a truck-to-rail transfer facility by the board of zoning appeals. That June meeting drew 18 people and two board members.

The site includes three parcels, is zoned light industrial (I-1) and adjoins Esterly, Wisler and Cherry Fork roads and was obtained from the Columbiana County Port Authority by Buckeye Transfer Realty.

Buckeye obtained the property on behalf of Centennial, a Denver-based oil service company to use the 95-acre tract as a truck to rail liquid transfer point.

It will transfer crude oil and condensate from active oil and gas wells to rail tankers staged on the spur. The site was chosen because of its proximity to an interstate highway (state Route 11) with a Norfolk Southern railroad spur.

The station was initially projected to handle16-18 trucks per day by filling five railroad tankers at the rate of about 45 minutes a truck. Trucks will enter and leave the site from Esterly Drive after moving through a trans-loading area where trained employees will transfer the product to waiting rail tankers.

The railcars will remain on the spur until they are picked up by the next available train, and when more empty rail tankers arrive.

Dirt is currently being moved in preparation for the equipment that isn't expected to see much activity until early spring. "There's been so much traffic," Mills said, noting she has two young children. She felt they should have been notified "out of respect."

Lisa Wallace, general counsel for Centennial Energy, had hinted at further development during the June's zoning appeal board meeting, so that "other companies" that might want to take advantage of the opportunities near the property.

They need the capability to store 100 tanker cars there, Wallace said Thursday and Mills asked if there will be 24-hour lighting on the grounds and Wallace said, "When we find out, you will (too)."

Another resident was concerned about the heavy traffic over the Cherry Fork Road bridge which township Road Supervisor Denny Farmer said was owned by the county. Trustee Chairman Bob Hum said he shared that concern if that traffic goes west because of the caliber of the road. Mills said, "That's a very small bridge" and Trustee Barry Miner said, "We'll look into it."